Site description
The study sites were located in the Damxung County, Xizang Autonomous
Region, China (Fig. 1). The area has a continental semi-arid climate.
The average annual temperature in the region is -0.8 ℃ and the annual
precipitation is 403 mm (Ma et al., 2023). Alpine steppe is one of the
major grassland types in this region, which were dominated by C.
parvula and S. capillacea (Table S1). Other coexisting species
included mainly A. szechuanensis , A. wellbyi , M.
sikkimensis , P. saundersiana , and P. nivea . C.
spinifera and D. fruticosa are native shrubs that widely
distributed on the central Tibetan Plateau, which is becoming more
abundant at alpine ecosystem in recent years (Zhao et al., 2023).